Device for mechanically forming a knitted border



Oct. 22, 1968 c, D C E 3,406,540

DEVICE FOR MECHANICALLY FORMING A KNITTED BORDER 2 6 19 19 lllil'.".'.'.'.'.'.'-.J|||lllIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIINH.W'WIIIIEII!llllllllllllllllllI Ill 13' 43 13 4 90- 9r INVENTOR 92* .i f} cm p/wc YGIER "mui wwwv. ATTORN E Y5 Oct. 22, 1968 c. DANCYGlER 3,406,540

DEVICE FOR MECHANICALLY FORMING A KNITTED BORDER Filed Sept. 23, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet z IIVWEIWDR C/l/L Dill/C YG'IEIk uhm ATTOMVYS Unite States 3,406,540 DEVICE FOR MECHANICALLY FORMING A KNITTED BORDER Chil Dancygier, 28 Rue du Docteur Blanche, Paris, France Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 327,213, Dec. 2, 1963. This application Sept. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 496,233 Claims priority, application France, Dec. 3, 1962, 917,322, Patent 1,352,173; May 27, 1963, 936,067

6 Claims. (Cl. 6685) lower strip or welt of a knitwear, the vertical borders at the front of a waistcoat, the bottoms of sleeves, etc. The border may be formed simultaneously along the edges of two sheets of flexible material somewhat spaced from each other to constitute an assembly band. It may also imitate what is referred to in the hosiery trade as an intake or full-fashioned knitwear. It may also constitute an ornamental band projecting or not from the main sheet material to provide any desired pattern or design overlying the flexible knitwear material.

It is known to knit separately a strip and to sew same by means of one or several seams on the flexible material on a sewing machine or ladder mender. This process involves two separate operations.

It has also been proposed to use a knitting machine for knitting directly a border in a flexible material even beyond its edge, but the needles of the machine, which are provided with a rounded hook associated with a pivoted latch, are ill-suited for the work contemplated, unless they are modified accordingly, and besides they cannot be driven throughout all the materials involved.

From the onset, embroidering machines seem more adequate for the purpose since they comprise hooks with a needle-like pointed end Without latch. However, these hooks form rows of chain stitches without any connections or links therebetween and therefore a conventional embroidering machine is unsuitable for making a knitted band projecting from the edge of a supporting material.

It is the essential object of the present invention to avoid these various drawbacks.

This invention provides to this end a device adapted to form mechanically a knitted border along the edge of a flexible material in one and single operation and in a particularly aesthetic manner since the border joint is free of any seam or the like. Moreover, the border is firmly anchored in its carrier. In the case of a connecting band, the resulting assembly is both flexible and elastic like the band itself. Ornamental effects can be obtained without difficulty by using yarns of different colors.

The device according to the present invention consists of an embroidering machine modified to comprise a Working bed, an aperture in said bed, a presser foot for guiding the work and a needle-guiding block formed with needle passages, said presser foot and guide block overlying said aperture, a series of knitting needles substituted for the conventional hooks and extending through said guideblock passages, 21 series of yarn-guiding tubes fitted in said aperture under said needles and carried by a small plate, another small plate whereon the work moves and atent O 3,406,540 Patented Oct. 22, 1968 2 formed with calibrated holes and secured on said bed above said aperture and tubular yarn guides, the calibrated holes in said small plate corresponding in number to said needles and being in axial alignment therewith, said holes being tubular, means for impressing a vertical reciprocating motion to said'needles and means for impressing a partial rotational alternating motion to the small plate carrying said tubular yarn guide in order to wind the yarn on the needles, this device being characterized in that it comprises as many needles as there are rows'or courses of chain stitches in the knitted border contemplated, the number of tubular yarn guides corresponding to the number of needles plus one, and that the plate carrying-said tubular yarn guides is adapted to perform a reciprocating movement of translation parallel to said bed which has an amplitude equal to the distance between the axes of any pair of adjacent needles and a cycle representing two times that of the needle motion, these movements being obtained through any known and suitable mechanical means, each endmost tubular yarn guide being thus positioned by turns outside the axis of movement of the needles.

Said needles may be for example sliding latch needles, hooked needles, spring bearded needles and the like.

The beard of a spring bearded needle is flexible and adapted to be closed with the upper point of the beard engaged in a registering groove formed in the needle shank, in order properly and reliably to retain the yarn in the closed beard.

When spring bearded needles are used, the calibrated holes in said small plate serve additionally the purpose of closing the needle beards, said plate receiving the needles therethrough during the vertical reciprocating movement of said needles. In this case, said tubular holes have outflared lower ends so that the open beard of the needle may penetrate therein without damage and be closed gradually as the needle rises, the upper diameter of the hole corresponding to the width of the closed needle heard.

It is to be observed that, when other types of needles are used, such as sliding latch needles, hooked needles, and the like, the working end of which is not adapted to be closed the outflared lower ends of the tubular holes in said small plate become useless but are not at all inconvenient, so that the same small plate with tubular holes having outflared lower ends may be used with all the herein contemplated types of needles.

The work moves on the small plate, and overlying it is the needle block in whose perforations the needle working ends are engaged when the needles travel upwards. When spring bearded needles are used, these perforations have a diameter at least equal to that of the holes formed in the underlying plate to avoid the risk of breaking the needle beards, this diameter being preferably equal to that of the holes in said plate so that the beards remain closed until the needles have passed again through the work during their downward stroke.

The set of needles is disposed preferably stepwise or in zig-zag, i.e., on two relative offset rows (in quincunx), so that two adjacent needles may form two courses of adjacent stitches without interfering with each other during their movements, and the tubular yarn guides are also disposed stepwise or in zig-zag beneath the needles in the same fashion. In this case, however, the number of tubular yarn guides must equal that of the needles in the corresponding needle row plus one. Each needle row operates independently with the number of yarns exceeding by one unit the number of needles and the two series of stitch lines formed thereby intermesh and are kept thus assembled by the zig-zag yarns which, on the back side of the material, interconnect the stitch lines of each series by passing under the stitch lines of the other series.

It is to be noted that the device hereinabove described may be as a whole placed upside down and used as well in this position.

A specific form of embodiment of a device constructed according to the teachings of this invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the diagrammatic drawings attached hereto, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary elevational and part-sectional view, the section being taken upon the line II of FIG. 4, showing an embroidering machine modified according to this invention, the needles being shown in their uppermost position;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary elevational view showing the device with the needles in their lowermost position;

FIGURE 3 is a detail view taken from FIG. 1 and showing a different position of the machine;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view from beneath. with a partial section taken upon the line IV-IV of FIG. 1;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 with the machine shown in a different position;

FIGURE 6 is a vertical cross-section taken through the lower portion of the machine;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary view from beneath showing on a larger scale a modified embodiment of a component element of the device, i.e. the perforated plate associated with the needles;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary vertical section showing on the same enlarged scale the plate illustrated in FIG. 7 with a spring bearded needle engaged therein;

FIGURE 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8, showing the spring bearded needle in another position;

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary elevational view on an enlarged scale of a sliding latch needle;

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary elevational view on the same enlarged scale hook.

The modified embroidering machine illustrated in the drawings comprises in the known fashion a bed 6 in which an aperture 7 is formed, the work (not shown) being fed above this aperture by means of a presser foot 44.

Needles 8 overlie the aforesaid aperture 7. In the aperture 7 and beneath the needles 8 are yarn guiding tubes 9 carried by a small plate 10 mounted in turn on a pair of eccentric cams 11 extending through an underlying plate 12 beyond which they are connected with the assistance of spacer discs 19 to pinions 13 in constant meshing engagement with a common rack 14 adapted to be reciprocated in a horizontal plane to drive the eccentric cams and therefore the plate 10, and to impart thereto a partial reciprocating movement of rotation in relation to the plate 12, this movement conventional in an ordinary embroidering machine serving the purpose of winding on the working ends of the hooks the yarns taken by the latter at the outlet ends of the tubular yarn guides. Spacer discs 36 solid with the eccentric cams 11 prevent any direct contact between the plates 10 and 12. A frame 15 secured on the bed 6 by means of screws 16 supports the above-described mechanism incorporating the tubular yarn guide means.

The needles 8 shown in FIGURES 8 and 9 are spring bearded needles having a flexible beard 37 adapted to be closed as shown in FIGURE 9, the beard point engaging in this position a groove 38 formed to this end in the needle shank in front of the beard point. These needles have an elongated beard adapted to be closed whereby yarns difficult to retain such as elastic or bulk yarns may be used.

The work (not shown) moves on the top of a perforated plate 39 solid with the frame structure of the machine, for example secured on the bed 6 thereof and bridging the aperture 7 in register with the needles 8 and tubular yarn guides 9. The plate 39 is formed with as many holes 40 as there are needles 8 in the machine, this plate being furthermore so disposed that the holes 40 are exactly in axial alignment with the needles, whereby these may be driven therethrough during their vertical reciprocating movements. These holes are tubular, for instance cylindrical at their upper portion and have a downwardly outflared lower portion, the width of the tubular portion corresponding to the width of a needle 8 having its beard closed. As the needles perform their downward stroke they travel easily through the holes 40 which they engage with their lower end or point. During their upward travel, their open beard 37 easily engages the widened hole portion 40 (FIG. 8) which gradually moves the heard to its closed position (FIG. 9) before it passes again through the work supported by the plate 39. If the needle beard were not closed in such a manner the yarn would not be safely retained, and thus not only the needle beard would not properly travel through the work but it might break against the needle guide block 41 overlying the work and formed with passages 42 in axial alignment with the holes 40 and wherein the needles 8 are reciprocated. The width of these passages 42 is the same as that of the upper tubular portion of holes 40 so that the needle beards, by engaging these passages, as the needles travel upwards, remain closed and continue to properly retain the yarn 43 (see FIGS. 9 and 1).

Conventional sliding latch needles or hooked needles (FIG. 10) or FIG. 11), all known per se, may be substituted for the spring bearded needles of FIGURES 8 and 9, without altering the other parts of the device; however, in this case, the outfiared lower portion of the cylindrical holes 40' in the plate 39 may be omitted, being useless, as the working end of such needles is not adapted to be closed. The sliding latch needle, due to its fiat stem and to its short hook very pointed at its bottom, goes easily through tightly woven fabrics as well as through plastics, leather and the like, whereon a knitted border is to be made.

The device illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 6, inclusive, comprises six needles, therefore the plate 39 associated therewith has six holes 40 formed therethrough. Of course, if a greater number of needles were contemplated in the machine, the number of holes in plate 39 would be increased accordingly; thus, in FIGS. 7 and 8, there is shown a plate 39 having fourteen holes 40 disposed in two parallel rows of seven holes each, the holes of one row being arranged stepwise in relation to or between those of the other row, this plate being designed for a machine comprising two parallel and offset rows of seven needles.

The differences between the device of this invention and a conventional embroidering machine are summarized hereinafter:

(l) The usual hooks of conventional embroidering machines are replaced with knitting needles 8 disposed on two rows, the needles of one row being disposed between those of the other row and somewhat spaced therefrom. Each row of needles comprises three needles (in the case of a six-needle arrangement). A perforated plate 39 is associated with these needles.

(2) The tubular yarn guides 9 are also disposed in two rows each registering with a row of needles, and each row of yarn guides comprises four yarn guide tubes or tubular passages (in the case of a six-needle arrangement) designated by the reference symbols 9 to 9 and 9 to 9 in other words, each row comprises the same number of passages as there are needles in the registering row, plus one.

(3) The complete mechanism comprising the tubular yarn guides is adapted to be reciprocated horizontally in a recess 17 formed in the lower face of bed 6. The amplitude of this reciprocating movement is equal to the pitch measured between two adjacent needles in a same row and its cycle is twice that of the reciprocating motion accomplished by the needles through the work (not shown) travelling on the perforated plate 39. To permit this movement of translation the frame structure 15 is provided with, or machined internally to constitute, a pair of slideways 18 on which the mechanism carrying the tubular yarn guides is adapted to bear through the medium of the aforesaid spacer discs 19. The plate 12 apertured at 20 beneath the tubular yarn guides 9 acts as a slider and is slotted at 21 along one portion of the edge of said aperture 20. It is the edges of these slots that limit the amplitude of the reciprocating motion of the slide by alternately abutting against a stop 22 solid with the frame structure 15. The length of this stop 22 and of slot 21 are such that the amplitude of the movement of translation is approximately equal to the distance measured between the axes in two adjacent needles of a same row or between two adjacent tubular yarn guides in a same row of guides.

The same rack 14 imparts the movement of translation to the mechanism carrying the tubular yarn guides. This rack may be actuated in turn by a connecting rod or link 23 driven through or from any suitable prime mover, for example a crank handle (not shown) operated by the motor of the modified embroidering machine. The rack meshing with pinions 13 pushes and pulls the complete mechanism carrying the tubular yarn guides without driving the pinions until one edge of the slot 21 in slide 12 abuts against the stop 22; then the rack 14 rotatably drives the pinions 13 and the yarns are wound as usual around the working ends of the needles, and the movement of translation is resumed but in the opposite direction until the slot 21 abuts with its opposite edge against the stop 22, whereafter another cycle of rotation of pinions 13 takes place in the reverse direction, and so forth.

FIGURES 1 and 3 illustrate two end positions of the tubular yarn guides 9 in relation to the needles 8 during the movement of translation of the mechanism supporting these tubular yarn guides. FIGURES 4 and 5 are plan views from beneath corresponding respectively to FIGS. 1 and 3 to illustrate the end positions of slide 12 with respect to the fixed stop member 22. The arrows f and f designate the direction in which the slide 12 will travel from the two end positions respectively.

The reciprocal motion of the yarns under the needles 8, and the zig-zag movements performed by these yarns on the back side of the work for interconnecting or linking the lines of chain stitches are permitted by the abovedescribed reciprocating movement of translation of the mechanism supporting the tubular yarn guides.

When the slide 12 is in the position illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5 of the drawings, the tubular yarn guides 9 9 9 9 9 and 9 as well as the relevant yarns become operative. When the slide 12 is in the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the tubular yarn guides 9 9 9 9 9 and 9 as well as the corresponding yarn-s become operative. The same cycle is subsequently resumed.

By way of indication, the machine, during the formation of a row of stitches, operates as follows:

1st step: The presser foot 44 shown in broken lines is lowered onto the work (not shown). The needle guide block 41 is also lowered onto the work and the needles are in their uppermost position (FIG. 1).

2nd step: The needles are lowered, pass through the work and engage the tubular yarn guides 9 (FIG. 2). One row of stichtes is thus formed.

3rd step: The tubular yarn guides lay their yarns on the needles as the presser foot rises and recedes.

4th step: The yarn guide block is also caused to rise 6 with the needles as the presser foot is lowered and engage the work.

5th step: The presser foot which, on its lower face, is formed with teeth or notches is fed through the extent of one stitch and carries along the work.

Of course, many details may be changed in the practical embodiment of the device described hereinabove and illustrated in the drawings, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A device for mechanically forming a knitted border or the like on knitwear and any other flexible material, comprising a work bed, an aperture in said bed, a presser foot for guiding the work, a series of knitting needles, means for carrying a series of yarn guide passages of tubular configuration disposed in said aperture beneath said needles, means adapted to impart to said needles a vertical reciprocating motion and means adapted to impart to said means for carrying said tubular yarn guides an alternating part-circular motion causing the winding of said yarns around the corresponding needles, each needle in said row of needles serving to form a row of chain stitches in the knitted border contemplated, the number of said tubular yarn guides exceeding that of said needles by at least one unit, and said tubular yarn guide carrier means being adapted to accomplish a reciprocating movement of translation in a plane parallel to said bed, the amplitude of said last-named movement being equal to a discrete multiple of the distance between the two axes of any pair of adjacent needles with a cycle twice that of the reciprocatory needle motion.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said needles are sliding latch needles.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said needles are hooked needles.

4. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the series of needles is disposed in zig-zag, therefore on two rows in quincunx, and said tubular yarn guides are arranged similarly in zig-zag, on two rows, beneath said needles, the number of tubular yarn guides in each row exceeding by one unit the number of needles in the corresponding needle row.

5. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein the series of sliding latch needles is disposed in zig-zag, therefore on two rows in quincunx, and said tubular yarn guides are arranged similarly in zig-zag, on two rows, beneath said needles, the number of tubular yarn guides in each row exceeding by one unit the number of the needles in the corresponding needle row.

6. A device as set forth in claim 3, wherein the series of hooked needles is disposed in zig-zag, therefore on two rows in quincunx, and said tubular yarn guides are arranged similarly in zig-zag, on two rows, beneath said needles, the number of tubular yarn guides in each row exceeding by one unit the number of needles in the corresponding needle row.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 62,755 7/ 1892 Germany. 445,467 7/ 1927 Germany. 681,084 9/1939 Germany.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

F. FELDBAUM, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR MECHANICALLY FORMING A KNITTED BORDER OR THE LIKE ON KNITWEAR AND ANY OTHER FLEXIBLE MATERIAL, COMPRISING A WORK BED, AN APERTURE IN SAID BED, A PRESSER FOOT FOR GUIDING THE WORK, A SERIES OF KNITTING NEEDLES, MEANS FOR CARRYING A SERIES OF YARN GUIDE PASSAGES OF TUBULAR CONFIGURATION DISPOSED IN SAID APERTURE BENEATH SAID NEEDLES, MEANS ADAPTED TO IMPART TO SAID NEEDLES A VERTICAL RECIPROCATING MOTION AND MEANS ADAPTED TO IMPART TO SAID MEANS FOR CARRYING SAID TUBULAR YARN GUIDES AN ALTERNATING PART-CIRCULAR MOTION CAUSING THE WINDING OF SAID YARNS AROUND THE CORRESPONDING NEEDLES, EACH NEEDLE IN SAID ROW OF NEEDLES SERVING TO FORM A ROW OF CHAIN STITCHES IN THE KNITTED BORDER CONTEMPLATED, THE NUMBER OF SAID TUBULAR YARN GUIDES EXCEEDING THAT OF SAID NEEDLES BY AT LEAST ONE UNIT, AND SAID TUBULAR GUIDE CARRIER MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO ACCOMPLISH A RECIPROCATING MOVEMENT OF TRANSLATION IN A PLANE PARALLEL TO SAID BED, THE 